I'm having a small (14 x 30) stick-built man-cave put on our property in the mountainous desert area of west Texas. We've got low humidity, and there will be no bathroom or kitchen, so no water to speak of. The building design and construction should make it fairly air-tight so I believe I need an HRV to keep the air fresh.

I plan on using a mini-split system to heat and cool the space so integrating an HRV doesn't appear possible. I found an under-$HRV from Suncourt, which simply shuts off when the outside temp drops below 40, while a local HVAC guy who wasn't familiar with HRVs came back with a $ Honeywell ERV that has a defroster. Maybe the Suncourt Airiva is fine but I'm curious what pros who are familiar with HRVs would recommend in my application.

Thank you!

01-26-2010, 02:45 PM

beenthere

So your not going to use the man cave when the outdoor temp us below 40.

01-26-2010, 03:30 PM

pstu

Quote:

Originally Posted by timmy2

I'm having a small (14 x 30) stick-built man-cave put on our property in the mountainous desert area of west Texas. We've got low humidity, and there will be no bathroom or kitchen, so no water to speak of. The building design and construction should make it fairly air-tight so I believe I need an HRV to keep the air fresh.

I plan on using a mini-split system to heat and cool the space so integrating an HRV doesn't appear possible. I found an under-$HRV from Suncourt, which simply shuts off when the outside temp drops below 40, while a local HVAC guy who wasn't familiar with HRVs came back with a $ Honeywell ERV that has a defroster. Maybe the Suncourt Airiva is fine but I'm curious what pros who are familiar with HRVs would recommend in my application.

Thank you!

Please describe more about the heat you want to conserve using the HRV. So much of the year the temperature differential between indoor and outdoor, is small compared to the most successful HRV installations in the North.

I am a homeowner in SE Texas where we worry about humidity, and I am very concerned that an ERV would not capture enough heat/humidity to be worthwhile. I am tempted to call it a 4-figure placebo in my climate. Of course West Texas climate is different. Is it reasonable to figure this is close to or within Big Bend?